House, Senate pass budgets setting tone for talks

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida House and Senate passed competing budgets Thursday of more than $87 billion, setting up negotiations between the chambers to resolve vast differences over K-12 schools, higher education, environmental and health care spending.

The main sticking point between the chambers is likely to be in education, though they are close, bottom dollar-wise.

The House budget includes $21.1 billion for K-12 schools, a $506.8 million increase on the current year that comes out to $7,406 in per student funding, a $100 increase. The Senate version would hike K-12 school spending $10 per student more to $7,416.

But Democrats and Senate leaders are opposed to a House plan to tie an omnibus education bill, HB 7055, to the education budget. The bill contains several controversial provisions, such as a new voucher program to give bullied students scholarships to attend different schools, and a requirement that teachers unions reapply for certification if they fall below 50 percent membership in their district.

Democrats are against the measure because it takes power and money away from school districts and traditional public schools to give more to charter and private schools.

“The money is being steered away, [and] so is the authority of the school boards,” said Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami. “[Charter and private schools] don’t have to play by the same rules traditional public schools have to play by. They play by their own rules.”

Senate budget chief Rob Bradley said although he was a “school choice guy” and supports many of the House’s ideas, he’s not a fan of their move to tie HB 7055 to budget talks.

The House plan makes “the stakes about something different than the merits of the policy itself,” said Bradley, R-Fleming Island. “You’ve made the stakes ‘Are we going to get to go home on time and have a budget completed?’ rather than ‘is this a good idea or not for the state of Florida?’”

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, is spearheading the education bill, just as he did last year with a similar education bill that spurred a lawsuit from school boards and teachers unions. But he backed off somewhat from his insistence the budget be tied to the education bill.

“It’ll be a standalone bill,” he said. “I think all of this right now is just putting us in a good position to work things out. I’m encouraged.”

The House budget passed by an 85-27 vote, largely along partisan lines, though 12 Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill. The Senate voted 37-1 in favor of their spending plan, with Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, the only no vote.

The chambers also are split on how to allocate money to hospitals based on their number of Medicaid patients. The Senate approach metes out $266 million to more than 200 hospitals, while the House plan would concentrate the funds in 28 non-profit hospitals that cater to low-income patients.

For Orlando-area hospitals, Orlando Health would lose $9.4 million under the Senate plan but Florida Hospital would gain $16.4 million.

Another possible flash point is the Senate’s plan to increase nursing home provider rates by $130 million, which the House doesn’t include in its budget.

Democrats also stressed their opposition to the House plan to take $182 million from a trust fund dedicated to affordable housing, while the Senate includes $308 million for affordable housing programs. After hurricanes Irma and Maria, the need is greater than ever before, and it was at crisis levels before the storms, they argued.

“We are in an affordable housing crisis, we all know that,” said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. “We know that because we live in Florida; we’ve seen our constituents suffering from it.”

But House budget chairman Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, noted that many Democrats voted for budgets in prior years that included sweeps to the affordable housing trust fund.

The House and Senate are also at odds over higher education. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has championed budget increases for universities, but the House plan originally included cuts. The House also didn’t include funds to pay for 75 percent of tuition for “medallion scholars” receiving Bright Futures Scholarships.

For Florida Forever, a program dedicated to buying state lands for preservation, the Senate includes $150 million, but the House has just $8 million, although the House budget does have $35 million for a different land program.

Karen Pence, Second Lady of the United States, visits the Integrative and Creative Arts Therapy program at the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, February 21, 2018, working on an art project with cancer patients Julie Montz and Ann Bosco. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Karen Pence, Second Lady of the United States, visits the Integrative and Creative Arts Therapy program at the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, February 21, 2018, working on an art project with cancer patients Julie Montz and Ann Bosco. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)